BURNING OF THE SHIP WILLIAM III.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1093, 12 August 1871, Page 2

BURNING OF THE SHIP WILLIAM 111.

[TROM THE LONDON "TIMES."] The burnt-out hull of the iron built screw steamship William 111., which vessel was destroyed on May 21, arrived at Spithead, and was afterwards placed on the shoals off the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor, and scuttled there to extinguish the fire which was still raging in the unburnt residue of the coal forward of the engine room. The fire broke out in sight of land on a beautifully calm night; other vessels were near jat hand to render help, and every man, woman, and child on board found a secure means of escape from the burning ship. One gentleman and lady who were passengers on board, Germans, have recently been married, and were on their way to Batavia to settle there, taking with them all they possessed in the form of general stock to open a store tee, to the value of .£ISOO. All this was lost, and was most unfortunately for them uninsured. Mr Coote, the pilot of the Mary, states that about 10 p.m. on Friday, the Owers lightship then bearing N.E. about eight miles distant from the cutter, white red and blue lights, burnt in rapid succession, evidently as signals of distress from some ship, were seen to southward. The wind was very light at the time from N.W., but the cutter was at once kept away be-

! fore it for the position where the signalswere seen, the pilot's usual answering flare signal being at the same time made, and kept repeated iff answer. The cutter "making but little way with the light wind, the boat was put ahead and manned by two of the crew, who towed the cutter for upwards of an hour, and until they reached the spot from where the signals had been made, and where for some time now the cutter's crew had seen that a large ship was burning furiously from stem to stern. Several lights were seen around the ship, and these proved to be lanterns in the ship's boats, which were lying off from the ship, with all the passengers and part of the crew in them. Upon inquiry from the passengers the burning vessel was found to be the William 111., from the port of Amsterdam bound to Batavia via the Suez Canal-the pioneer of a new line of steamships started* under contract with the Government of the Netherlands to open regular steam communication between Holland and Java. She was of 3000 tons measurement, and had but quite recently been handed over to the company by her builders, the Messrs Elder, of Glasgow. The Cambria, London steam tug, which ran down to the William 111. from the look-out station off St. Catherine's Point, took the unfortunate vessel in tow, and arrived with her at Spithead. Port Admiral Sir Janes Hope was soon alongside tbe William 111., and superintending energetically the measures being taken for the suppression of the fire. The fire is not yet entirely extinguished, notwithstanding the continued wash of water through the iron hull of the ship, the remainder of the great mass of coals carried by the ship still retaining a " heart of fire " under the wreck above. As the ship lies now on the Spit shoals she presents a most extraordinary appearance. Her iron sides above the water line are bent out of all their original lines by the intense heat to which they have been subjected. On board the general view is still more extraordinary. All, forward and aft, from the stem to the taffrail rail, is one confused forest of tangled iron. Everything combustible is burned right out; the iron deck beams are twisted out of their places, broken, and bent downwards as from some vast volcanic effect. The fire appears to have been first discovered on board the ship in one of the state cabins. A child is said to have first seen flames, and some other person found smoke in a large volume between decks. A hole was cut through the timber planking of the deck over the state room, and water in large quantities poured down; but from the moment of discovery the fire kept the mastery, and spread with astonishing rapidity to all parts of the ship. Some of the passengers speak of "pipes" connected with the engine room passiug through one of the state rooms uncovered, and giving out great heat, and pointing to this by inference as the cause of the fire. This, however, cannot be accepted as anything more than mere surmise. The actual cause of the fire and the ship's loss can only be arrived at from the results of the usual official enquiry.